WWF Monday Night RAW (April 19, 1993)

Original Airdate: April 19, 1993 (Taped April 12)

From Poughkeepsie, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Rob Bartlett – in his last appearance.  

Opening Match: Razor Ramon v Virgil: Razor tosses the toothpick at him, and the crowd is solidly behind the heel Ramon. They trade hammerlocks and go-behinds in the early going, with Virgil controlling, and forcing Ramon to rely on rope breaks. Virgil with an inside cradle for two, and he tries a wristlock, but a schoolboy is nicely blocked by Razor when he holds the ropes - making Virgil look like a dope. He uses the same strategy to dodge a dropkick, and Razor slaps on an abdominal stretch, but Virgil hiptosses him - only to miss an elbowdrop. Razor gives him one of his own, and adds a bodyslam. STF, as Bartlett suggests that the counter to this hold is to 'pull a knife.' Wow. Luckily, Virgil doesn't hear him, and grabs the ropes, then hits a 2^nd rope clothesline. 2^nd rope bodypress, but Razor hits the deck to dodge, and finishes him with the Razors Edge at 6:59. This is the second time in a few weeks that Virgil looked really sloppy, but Ramon looked good, and that was the point, I suppose. ¼*

Cute RAW Girl Sign of the Week: When Was The Last Time You Got RAW?

Giant Gonzalez v LA Gore: Gore wants no part of him, but Giant pulls him in from the floor, and cracks him with a clothesline. Big boot (poorly executed, as it hit the gut), and his equally shitty Chokeslam finish at 1:20. God, only Giant Gonzalez could border negative stars in under two minutes. Seriously, what the fuck? Your whole thing is that you're big. Fine. So you can't even do 'big guy stuff' like a big boot properly? Or pick the guy ALL the way up on a chokeslam? Just useless. DUD

Backstage, at some sort of sex dungeon, Luna Vachon threatens Sherri

Tatanka v Art Thomas: Thomas jumps him during the entrances, and pounds in the corner. Whip into the ropes for a backelbow, and they botch a cross corner whip spot, as Tatanka apparently thought they were going for a reversal, but Thomas let his arm go, as Tatanka ended up doing a twirl on his way into the corner. That was awesome. They look lost, so Tatanka slaps on a wristlock and bodyslams him, but misses an elbowdrop. Thomas tries ramming him into the corner to capitalize, but it's too late, he's JIGGING UP!! Tomahawk Chop! End of the Trail! 2:29! Well, the botch was pretty hilarious, at least. DUD

Money Inc v The Beverly Brothers: Money Inc are the WWF Tag Team Champions, but this is non-title. Big brawl to start, the Beverly's cleaning house, and the dust settling on Ted DiBiase and Blake Beverly. They trade wristlocks, and Blake controls with a bodyslam. Tag to brother Beau for a flying axehandle, and he takes his turn to work DiBiase's wrist. Tag to Blake for a diving headbutt to the wrist, and he tries an armbreaker. They keep taking turns working the wrist and arm, but Blake ends up taking a bodyslam, and DiBiase tags. IRS immediately misses an elbowdrop though, and the Beverly's take turn working his wrist now. IRS manages to get Beau in a mat-based front-facelock, and DiBiase switches in to work his own version. Backdrop, but Beau kicks him in the face to block, and catches IRS with a jumping clothesline. Tag to Blake, and it's backdrop time for DiBiase. Bodyslam and an elbowdrop get two, and Beau tags back in with a backdrop of his own for two. IRS runs in to trigger a four-way brawl, but the Beverly's end up colliding, and DiBiase schoolboys Beau for the pin at 12:59. Weird match, as it was heel/heel, but they still tried to work the standard tag team formula, and couldn't make up their minds who was playing the face team - both confusing the crowd, and ruining the flow. Odd match, but not poorly worked. ½*

Vince McMahon brings Bret Hart out for an in-ring interview, to discuss his losing the WWF Title to Yokozuna at WrestleMania. Bret says he's always been an underdog, but he always comes out on top. Next topic: Lex Luger, who Bret says is on the top of the hit list. Hart was starting to feud with him after Lex attacked him at a WrestleMania brunch, but much like the Sherri/Luna stuff, it never went anywhere.

Bam Bam Bigelow v Phil Apollo: Apollo tries a headlock, but Bigelow easily shrugs him off, and unloads a few shoulderblocks. Diving forearm and a snapmare set up a headvise, but an avalanche misses, so Apollo tries a dropkick - Bigelow promptly swatting him away. Bam Bam with a vertical suplex, as Doink makes his way down the aisle - apparently thinking he's time traveled to 1994. Stupid clown. In the ring, Bigelow stomps away, and hits the avalanche he misses earlier. Bodyslam and an impressive looking senton splash set up the flying headbutt, and that's it for Phil at 4:43. Afterwards, Bigelow gives him another one, but Friar Ferguson comes out to prevent a third – though luckily we never had to sit through that feud, as they actually ended up as allies when Mike Shaw became Bastion Booger instead. Just a squash, but Bigelow always looked good when he was actually trying. ¼*

BUExperience: Pretty shitty show this week, as the main focus was Money Inc/Beverly Brothers, and that match sucked. Kind of a water treading episode, as WrestleMania is over, but they haven’t really begun building to King of the Ring yet.